Transversal resettlement transitions : young refugees navigating resettlement in Greater Western Sydney

Drawing conceptually on the work of Guattari (Psychoanalysis and transversality: texts and Interviews 1955-1971. Semiotext(e), South Pasadena, 2015), this chapter takes a transversal approach to mapping aspirational change in the stories of a group of young refugees who were at different stages in their 5 years of resettlement transitions after fleeing war-torn countries in North Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, to seek refuge in Greater Western Sydney, Australia. Refugee resettlement entails a complex and multi-layered set of transitions that newly arrived refugees are required to make simultaneously and within a very short period of time. These transitions are often compounded by the hidden injuries of war, cultural dislocations and linguistic displacements, which present young refugees with formidable challenges of varying intensities that at the same time usher in endless new possibilities. Through transversality in an informal youth and community setting, young people, youth workers and researchers were able to circumvent vertical institutional hierarchies and go beyond horizontal arrangements of local services to carve out spaces where authentic dialogue "at different levels" and "in different meanings" could lead to meaningful change in group dynamics (Guattari in Psychoanalysis and transversality: texts and Interviews 1955-1971. Semiotext(e), South Pasadena, p. 113, 2015). In these intersecting spaces, representations of the past, present and future through painting, alongside mentoring and website design, helped young refugees map out their educational aspirations and make informed decisions about achieving the goals they had reasons to value, rather than succumb to institutional definitions of success.